The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doylepage 1 of 242 (00%)

The Hound of the Baskervilles

by A. Conan Doyle

Chapter 1Mr. Sherlock Holmes

Mr. Sherlock Holmes, who was usually very late in the mornings,save upon those not infrequent occasions when he was up all night,was seated at the breakfast table. I stood upon the hearth-rugand picked up the stick which our visitor had left behind him thenight before. It was a fine, thick piece of wood, bulbous-headed,of the sort which is known as a "Penang lawyer." Just under thehead was a broad silver band nearly an inch across. "To JamesMortimer, M.R.C.S., from his friends of the C.C.H.," was engravedupon it, with the date "1884." It was just such a stick as theold-fashioned family practitioner used to carry--dignified, solid,and reassuring.

"Well, Watson, what do you make of it?"

Holmes was sitting with his back to me, and I had given him nosign of my occupation.